NEW LENOX -- Fate continued to be unkind to Lincoln-Way East on Thursday.

For host Lincoln-Way West, the first time was a charm.

The district rivals were forced into a penalty kick session after regulation and two overtimes produced a 1-1 tie.

The Warriors hadn’t played in a PK shootout this spring (while the Griffins were in their fifth), but the hosts looked like pros by producing a 6-5 edge in conversions over a seven-shooter marathon.

“That was our first shootout of the year,” Warriors coach Jeff Theiss said, “so it was great experience and great mental toughness out of the girls to chase the whole way and then bury their (PK) shots one at a time.”

The first four Griffins shooters converted (Jillian Kilrea, Caroline Kilrea, Stefani Cetera and Jessica Rajca), but the Warriors answered their first PK try off the crossbar with conversions by Teagan Lyke, Madison Mikalauski, Emly Wyskiel and Brianna Heyer.

A pressure PK by fifth shooter Heyer (who has a team-high 16 goals this season) came moments after Warriors goalkeeper Audrey Pearson made a great flying block to her left of a potential win-clinching shot from the Griffins.

“Their goalie made the fifth save - that ball’s going side panel and the girl (Pearson) guessed right, and she saved it,” Griffins coach Brian Papa said. “Then in the suddens we hit the crossbar. That happens. We just hate to end it like that.”

After the first five shooters produced a draw, each team chose a new group of shooters in a sudden victory format. West’s Brianna Darlage and East’s Murphy converted to maintain a 5-5 tie. But after Brittany Stover’s finish, a Griffins’ shot off the crossbar ended the night in dramatic fashion.

Despite their first PK session of the year, Stover and her teammates all showed the poise of regulars in the pressure-packed tiebreaker.

“It was nerve-wracking for sure,” Stover said. “We practice these every day in practice. I’ve had luck sometimes, and sometimes not. You just have to stay confident in yourself and just bury it.

“I remember last year I had a PK during a game, and I didn’t make it. I was trying to redeem myself a little, and this was a great opportunity.”

Pearson has done well making saves in regulation PK situations, and delivered when needed again Thursday.

“We had confidence that Audrey would step up and make a save, and sure enough she did to keep us alive,” Theiss said. “And then Natalie stepping up as the 6th shooter and Brittany burying that seventh. It’s fun stuff.”

The Griffins found no fun in the PK session result, nor the first 25 minutes of the game.

Their rough start culminated in a deficit in the fifth minute. Off a Meghann Lange corner kick, sophomore Mikalauski (eight goals, seven assists this season) somehow got off a shot in a scramble in front and put the Warriors up 1-0. It was Lange’s team-high ninth assist of the year.

“Lange sent a quality ball in, and Madison got a foot on it,” Theiss said. “I’m not even sure if Madison or the keeper saw it in that scrum in there. But you put something on net and give yourself a chance, and sure enough you end up with the ball in the back of the net.”

But after that finish, the Griffins kept the Warriors (12-7-1) off the board until the PK session.

“East made us work,” Theiss said. “They moved the ball east-west very well, so if you’re going to chase you’re going to run out of gas early. I thought the girls did a great job showing early pressure and covering off the ball, and not chasing. We were able to hang in there and then counterattack, and that was really the game plan.”

Generating shots proved to be the Griffins’ lone weakness.

“We’re winning the possession battle, but we just don’t put balls on frame,” Papa said. “If you don’t shoot the ball, you can’t score goals.”

Lincoln-Way East (11-9-2) had just four shots on net all night. The good news for the Griffins was the efficiency of their first try.

With 13:38 left in the first half, Cetera’s well-struck corner kick to the crease connected with Emily Scianna, whose 6-yard header tied the game 1-1.

That goal hardly eased Papa’s first half frustration, as his team continued to try to battle back from injuries to return to the level of play that produced a 7-0 start to the season.

“The first half I don’t think the girls were ready to play,” Papa said. “I really gave them an earful at halftime, because our season’s not over.

“We’ve underachieved, we know that. But this is our fifth penalty kick game, so we’re in games. It’s just the lack of scoring. From the second half through both overtimes, possession was ours. But they had the chances. They got the ball behind the defense and had quality chances, and we were lucky that they didn’t score.

“I have one girl (Jillian Kilrea) scoring the goals, and she’s out of the midfield,” Papa added. “You can’t win games with just one girl scoring from the midfield.”

“We’re not getting blown out - we’re playing well,” Kilrea said. “You ask any team and they’re saying, ‘You’re playing strong, if you could just finish.’ That’s the issue right now.

“It’s not that we’re playing bad. It’s just scoring. Props to West, they finished it off great in the PKs. But for the most part we had possession during the game and we played well.

“If we just finish in regulation, that game’s over. And if we don’t have one little breakdown, they don’t score. They finished, but that game should have never gone to PKs. We have to finish more.”

The Warriors’ best of several chances to finish in the second half came with 17:50 left in regulation. Off a Lange throw-in to the box, Breanna Bembenek lined a 12-yard laser off the crossbar.

That mid-half stretch produced a flurry of chances. Within the next four minutes, Cetera and goalkeeper Kim Seper combined to deny a burst up the middle by Lincoln-Way East's Tannura (11 goals this season). Seper then won a race to the ball on a Heyer pass towards Darlage racing in.

Even with the near misses, the Lincoln-Way West kept coming.

“We definitely just had to keep going for it,” Buldak said.”Keep trying, don’t give up, because it’s going to go in eventually.”

“The girls stayed hungry the whole way,” Theiss said. “We were definitely on the doorstep a couple of times. Bembenek hitting that crossbar - I would have loved to see her get one. But at the end of the day what an excellent experience for us to prepare for a potential postseason run.”

Pearson’s catch of Caroline Kilrea’s 28-yard shot was a rare chance created by the Griffins’ otherwise solid possession in the middle third. Stover was particularly effective shutting down chances on the left side, including a nice foot block and steal on one late-game play.

“Brittany Stover is a lock down outside defender,” Theiss said, “and she was reading the game so well. And Meredith (Buldak) won every single ball in the air. She was a handful in the middle of the field.

“Both of them have been solid for us all season, and they don’t get too much recognition. I thought these two did a lot of the grunt work that led to the ‘W.’”

Regulation wound down with more Warrior chances (Buldak just missing connection with Lange on a cross to the left post, then Seper’s nice save of a low Lange drive with 1:25 left. Defender Wyskiel deflected away a 28-yard Jillian Kilrea free kick as time expired.

“Kilrea’s an excellent player,” Theiss said. “She very composed on the ball and she plays off her teammates very well. It definitely forced us to stay connected.”

A Warrior near-miss with 6:30 left in the first overtime was close enough to elicit a goal celebration from much of the crowd. But Heyer’s header off a Tannura cross actually went inches over the top of the net.

A well struck, high 45-yard shot by Anna Power was caught in high winds and required a nice reaching save by Pearson as the first OT expired.

In the second extra session, a nice Lange cross to the post narrowly missed connection with two Warriors (with Power defending). Power and Jade Christensen each had nice header clears near the box to deny other chances.

Keeping with the Griffins’ theme all night, a nice Jillian Kilrea pass to Kelsee Schofield in deep with 4:05 left in the second OT resulted in a nice Bembenek steal without a shot.

Then in PKs, both teams converted most of their chances. But Pearson’s save proved to be the eventual difference.

The Griffins also endured a PK loss to rival Lincoln-Way North on Monday. But continuing to get healthy is the main focus heading towards the postseason.

“The injuries hurt us,” Papa said. “Today was the first full game that Lindsey (Murphy) has been back. When Lindsey went down then things started mixing up. We have a group of kids that we were mixing and matching, and for that period of time when Lindsey was out, we weren’t playing well because our midfield was broken up. We changed our system (to three attack) because we didn’t have enough midfielders.”

“I have a core of three senior captains in the middle of the field who have the most experience,” Papa added. “And right now they’re hurting. We have to get healthy.”

Lincoln-Way West battled to the finish to rebound from their disappointing loss Tuesday to Lincoln-Way Central.

“We came back from a big (loss) that we weren’t sure we were going to overcome,” Buldak said. “But we knew as a team what we needed to accomplish and we came out, tried our best, and in the end we got it.”

Stover also noticed a difference from Tuesday.

“We had more communication, more team bonding and were working as a unit instead of individually,” she said. “We tried to communicate more and that obviously helped.”

With a 5-1 record since April 18, the Warriors are on track for a strong and maybe long May.

“There were too many individuals on Tuesday, and that’s not us,” Theiss said. “So we talked about trusting the system, trusting each other and communicating defensively.

“We have a unique dynamic with a lot of speed at different positions,” Theiss added, “so if we can maintain that defensive shape and look to find feet in the counter we’re going to be dangerous.”